Red Skies at Dawn
by Rogueantihero
Summary: SPOILER WARNING for D3! Following the aftermath of the destruction of the barrier, Uma and Harry now have to learn how to navigate their newly found freedom. Sadly, it's not that easy for the two as they must come to terms with their intense feelings towards each other as they face the biggest threat Auradon has ever seen. How will Auradon react to their precious barrier falling?


The celebrations following the destruction of the barrier continued well into the night much to Uma's dismay. Her elation was finally fading as exhaustion began to creep in. Alone within the Captain's quarters of her ship she sluggishly pulled on her pajamas, tossing her clothes haphazardly across the floor. She told herself that she'd pick them up tomorrow. She then dragged herself towards the bed tucked into the corner of the excessively large room. The familiar emptiness of the room was a much needed comfort after the day's events. Uma's room for the most part was not decorated beyond necessity. Though she was a pirate and quite enjoyed the thrill of thieving, she didn't see the point in keeping trinkets that offered no monetary value as a majority of their spoils went to keeping her mother's restaurant afloat.

The crack of fireworks echoed across the Isle as Uma fitfully tried to escape into her dreams. She wished she could blame the fireworks for her inability to fall asleep, but instead it was the thoughts racing through her mind. Thoughts about her flirtatious first mate. Uma couldn't remember when she first began falling for Harry, all she knew was that her feelings kept getting stronger. On the Isle, love was a weakness. It was a fact she constantly reminded herself of, but she still couldn't stop herself from falling for his charm. No matter how many times Harry unintentionally hurt her by flirting with nearly every girl he encountered, her heart never seemed to learn its lesson. She thought today was no different, but after a year of separation it hurt more than she had remembered. When he asked Evie if Mal was definitely taken during the party she snapped.

* * *

"_What's my name?" She growled as she elbowed his sculpted arm._

_Harry hissed in pain. Eventually he looked down at her wondering if she was serious. "Uma," he shrugged. _

_This response was what she had expected, but when his eyes dropped to her lips and he suddenly swooped down fully intending for a kiss with his lips puckered, she panicked and brushed him off. Angrily she stomped away, only to look back a few moments later to see him dancing with none other than the brat that had recently been a pain in her neck. She was already annoyed by the special treatment Audrey had been given instead of a punishment. Had Audrey been a VK, the situation would have ended very differently. It ended up working out for the best, but Harry being friendly with her felt like he was pouring salt onto her wounds. _

_After taking a moment to compose herself she threw then herself vigorously into the festivities and danced well into the night. Harry stayed close by for the majority of it, but somehow she managed to forget about the whole thing for the time being. Her dream of freeing the other children from the Isle of the Lost had finally come true and she would be damned if she let Harry Hook ruin this day for her._

* * *

Though she had been able to forget for most of the day, it all came back to her now that she was alone. She came back to the ship on her own, leaving earlier than the others. Somehow she managed to escape without Harry noticing and tagging along. Even though she was excited about her freedom, the future of her and her crew was still up in the air. There were also many other problems she needed to solve now that everything had changed, but the hook wielding pirate kept infiltrating her thoughts until she couldn't hold back her frustration any longer.

Over the past few days she'd lost count of how many girls he'd openly flirted with in front of her. But the taunting image of him leaning in for a kiss pushed her over the edge. It sparked a searing pain within her chest as a few tears somehow escaped from her eyes. Uma knew he had been joking, teasing her with his charm like he so often had done before. But this was the first time he ever tried to tease her with the idea of a kiss. Sure he was a flirt, but he'd never gone this far before. Harry's cruel joke had unknowingly crossed a line and as a result it now left her sobbing angrily quietly into her pillow. The outrage she felt mixed dangerously with her slow growing sorrow.

She had never felt this way about anyone before. He had been her best friend for most of her life and she was terrified of messing up their friendship. If she confessed to him and her feelings were unrequited their relationship could be damaged beyond repair. It wouldn't be much of a problem if she could just figure out how he really felt. The problem with Harry Hook however, was the speed of which he went from flirting with her to flirting with whatever girl he happened to encounter. It only took a matter of seconds and it was one of the only things about her friend that she had never really figured out. Just when Uma thought she understood he would do a complete switch, confusing her even more in the process.

A knock on her door snapped her out of her haze. Silently she thanked her past self for locking her door out of habit and remained tucked under her mountain of blankets with no intention of talking to anyone else that night. The person knocking however was unaware of her decision.

The knock sounded again, "Captin' are ye there?" The voice belonged to the last person she wanted to see that night. She debated whether or not she should tell Harry to go away but before she could answer him, he spoke again. "Please, I need to talk to ya about somethin'."

There was a long pause, and Uma thought he had given up. 'Finally,' she thought as she rolled over with a huff.

"I know ya're awake darlin'," Harry quietly spoke with a sigh startling Uma. Cursing herself for letting her guard down, she waited. "What're we gonna do now that the barrier's down?" He eventually asked.

"Well the first thing I'm gonna do is sleep." The snark filled words flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Her voice came out hoarse and scratchy as she instantly regretted speaking. She forced a cough to clear her voice.

"I'm bein' serious Uma. Will ya please jus' let me in?" Harry's voice pleaded through the door.

Uma was grateful he decided not to comment on the state of her voice. "Hang on a second," She replied. Despite how upset she was, he was still her best friend and it had been awhile since they had got time to be together alone. She quickly shoved her blankets to the side and darted over to the mirror hung over her dresser, lighting a candle to gently check her face for signs that she had been crying. Her eyes were tinged pink but thankfully her face wasn't very puffy. Somehow she had gotten lucky, usually when she cried her face resembled a marshmallow. Not that she cried often, Uma was proud of her ability to go months without shedding a single tear. Crying was just another sign of weakness on the Isle.

'Could have been worse,' she thought. Thankfully the only source of light in her room were the lanterns placed randomly throughout it. Uma grasped her shell and quietly muttered a spell to light only a few of them, hoping it was still dark enough to prevent Harry from noticing the state of her face. Suddenly remembering the clothes she left lying on the floor she swiftly swept them under her bed. Satisfied she then anxiously paced towards the door and placed a cautious hand on the door knob. She scanned her room once again for anything she'd missed. Finally content with the cleanliness of her room she took one last breath to steel herself and pried open the door.

Harry was slouched in her doorway still dressed in the same clothes he had worn earlier, his head angled toward the ground. His signature smirk was nowhere to be seen. "Thought I was gonna 'ave ta break down yer door, ya took so long ta answer." He then finally lifted his head, his piercing eyes gazing down at her, carefully studying her face.

"You're lucky I even bothered to let you in." Uma grunted as she spun around quickly and drifted back towards her bed, knowing that he knew she didn't mean the harsh words. She took a seat on the far side of her bed leaning back against the headrest. She made sure to leave a space for her first mate to join her. It wasn't the first time he had come to her room late at night wanting to talk. In fact it was a common occurrence when one, or both of the pirates were unable to sleep. Harry laid next to her wordlessly, pressing against her side as if they hadn't just spent a year apart. Uma wasn't sure if he was oblivious to the idea of personal space or if he just actively decided to ignore it. It seemed as if he was always invading someone's bubble, no matter who it was. After they were both settled on top of the covers, she decided to break the silence. "You wanted to talk right?"

"We're finally free." He began. Instead of looking at her, his gaze was focused on the wooden planks of her ceiling. One of his legs was fully extended, reaching the end of the bed effortlessly while the other remained bent. With his head resting comfortably on one of her pillows his hands began fidgeting with his vest.

"We're free." Uma confirmed with grin, staring at her folded hands in her lap trying not to focus too much on the pirate next to her. Unsurprised, she couldn't help but notice her how tiny her legs were in comparison to his.

He thought for awhile before responding, not at all bothered by the silence. "So what're we gonna do now?"

"I don't know yet." At the sound of her response Harry turned to face her, propped up by his elbow he stared upwards into her eyes waiting patiently. "What do you want to do?" She asked looking away from his intense gaze. His silent scrutiny was making it hard for her to think. Unable to stop her own wondering eyes, they briefly fell upon his lips before having to quickly tear them away. She was relieved when she realized that he hadn't noticed her mistake as he had shifted his electric eyes away while thinking over his answer.

"I, for one, want ta see everythin', go eve'rywhere ya know," he spoke quietly. She watched as his hand as it played with the fraying edge of one of her blankets. "But, ya 're the captin' so I'll follow ya no matter where you end up." His pale eyes met Uma's once again as he gave her a soft smile.

"Mal and the others think we should go to Auradon Prep. Just for a year so we can adjust. We're almost adults now anyways so it doesn't matter too much." Though she hated to admit it, her and the other VKs were going to need help letting go of their ways. Not that she'd want to let go of everything she'd learned in the past seventeen years. At the very least they needed to learn how to keep themselves out of trouble in Auradon.

"Is that what ya're gonna do?" Harry asked as his eyebrows furrowed while he processed the new information.

"Think about it, if we go, the other kids might too. It'll be good for us. For all of us," she paused. "If we want to be free we've got to be good, or at the very least learn how to pretend to be."

"So ya 'ave thought about this alot eh?" Harry slowly sat up, draping his arm across him bent knee. "Ya sure about this darlin'?"

"Maybe. I had a lot of time to myself when I was outside the barrier." She shrugged. "As soon as the year is up we can set sail, we could go anywhere. We'll always be pirates, no one can take that away from us." She declared confidently, "you've always wanted to go to Neverland, we could always go there first." Uma hoped she could convince Harry to consider her idea as she smiled brightly at him. Besides, it would be safer for them if Auradon thought they were no longer evil. She was sure the kingdom was holding its breath waiting to see if the villains they had locked up for decades decided to get revenge.

"I guess we better tell the crew then. At least they'll 'ave somethin' ta look forward to." His tone was even and didn't betray any emotions he was trying to hide, but his face was an open book to Uma. His eyebrow twitched as he pressed his lips together softly and turned his gaze towards his hand that was tightening its grip on her blanket.

"What you don't want to wait a year?" She laughed.

"Why would ya willingly want ta go there. They don' like our kind. We could jus' set sail an' ne'er 'ave to deal with 'em again." As he spoke his accent grew even thicker, trying to conceal his mirth. He then laid back down with a sigh, trying to hide a growing smile, "besides, they'd prob'ly not let me 'ave my hook." His laughter in his eyes was nearly contagious, but Uma still held on to her composure.

"I'll never let anyone take away your hook Harry," she reassured him seriously. "I think you just don't want to be stuck in school all day," she chuckled.

"Aye ya got me there love," the term of endearment rolling off his tongue effortlessly. "School seems like such a pain. At least we'll ave our new wee friends to help," he ended softly. Uma was almost left speechless, he'd never called her that before. She decided suddenly that she definitely liked the sound of it coming from his voice.

"I should have known you'd want the easy way." She finally replied pretending to be resentful with a roll of her eyes. This time however, she couldn't hold back her smile. With one look the pair fell into fits of laughter, grasping onto each others' arms as they curled in on themselves. But eventually exhaustion from earlier began to creep in as Uma was unable to hold back a yawn. The laughter came to a sudden end, both of them out of breath.

"Sorry for keepin' ya awake. We can jus' talk in the mornin'." He sat up slowly, his hook clinking against his side as he patted her leg gently, "thanks for stayin' up with me, yeah." Without waiting for Uma's response he got up and began to put out her lanterns one by one. She watched silently as he saved the lantern next to her door for last, until he turned around fully to wish her goodnight. "Ye don' 'ave to decide tonight ya know."

"Goodnight Harry." She dismissed him with a half smile as she climbed under her blankets once again.

He opened the door and blew out the lantern, turning his head over his shoulder to look at her. The light from the hallway highlighted his sharp features as his eyes glinted playfully. "Sweet dreams Captin'," he purred with a smirk.

"Yeah whatever." She laughed while rolling over to turn her back towards him to hide her smile. She waited until she heard her door click softly and Harry's footsteps fade away before she took a shaky breath. Talking to him had been harder than she thought it would be. It had been over a year since they'd had a talk like that. She was thrilled to finally be around him again and she hoped fearfully that she could still hide her feelings from him. Only a few days had past since they'd reunited on the bridge when he and Gil had escaped the Isle and it was already becoming difficult to keep them in check. On top of that she's still not sure if he was angry at her for disappearing for so long, but for her it seems that his absence in her life has made her feelings for him grow stronger.

Tonight's conversation brought up unanswered questions about what to do with their newly found freedom, and also reignited one of her old fears. Harry could easily leave if he wanted, there was nothing she could do to stop him. If he didn't want to go to Auradon there would be no way Uma could force him into it. His friendship was more important to her than obedience. As strange the concept of it was to her, she wanted him to be happy. A part of her wanted to remain selfish, and demand that he follow her wherever she goes. Commanding him to do her bidding like she had in the past. But now it felt wrong. She didn't want to be the cause of his unhappiness. If he couldn't be happy beside her, who was she to keep him there.

With a heavy heart Uma was slowly drifting off. She wondered if she was strong enough to let Harry go permanently, so soon after reuniting with him. She wondered what it would have been like to feel his lips on hers, somewhat regretting pushing him away. 'Would he have actually kissed me?' she asked no one. She'd never ask him that to his face, he'd probably just laugh and tease her about it till the end of time. Harry was definitely not one to forget easily. With that final image of Harry laughing at her, her thoughts were finally silenced and the darkness took over.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Hi there! Hope you enjoyed this. I've always loved Harry and Uma's chemistry in the first two movies, but the two of them together in Descendants 3 was just mind blowing! So amazing in fact that I just had to write about it lol. This is only based off of the movies since I haven't read the books yet. I'm very broke so I gotta save up to buy them lol, being an adult sucks.**

**Anyways, hopefully I didn't make them seem OOC and was able to do them justice in this first chapter. Especially Uma, she seems pretty mopey in the beginning but to be fair she had a really long day and a lot of things happened in such a short span of a few days. It would be weird if she wasn't a bit emotional, even though she's tough as nails.**

**Also, about Uma being scared of Harry leaving her, this is an irrational fear of hers and no matter how many times he proves his loyalty to her she still has doubt. She still hasn't realized that he follows her pretty much everywhere willingly. (I just about died when he decided to go back to the Isle with Uma without a second thought. Think about it, he finally had his freedom, he could have gone anywhere but nope. The second Uma asked for a ride back he just jumped up and was like take me too. Where can I find a loyal, somewhat insane, yet handsome pirate for myself?)**

**Just FYI, I don't think Uma is evil, I think she's just a bit ****temperamental**** and misunderstood. In the third movie she was ****definitely more of a rogue character so that's where I draw a lot of her reactions and emotions from. Her moral compass depends on the situation and the people involved, meaning she is insanely unpredictable**** and I love it. So don't worry her darker side will come out in later chapters. **

**I'm definitely not perfect so please let me know if I made any mistakes so I can fix them. I have a very bad habit of writing instead of sleeping so I probably missed a few things here and there. If by any chance you're still reading this ridiculously long author's note, thank you for taking time to. Surely I can't be the only person who does. I'll post the next chapter soon! **


End file.
